Demand For Media Tablets In Vietnam Surged For Fourth Consecutive Year

Sales volume continued trending upwards but lower average price caused reduction in total market value

Vietnamese consumers continue to snap up increasing number of media tablets year-after-year since its launch in the market. Nearly 1.5 million units of the popular gadget were sold in Vietnam in January to December 2015, representing a 17 percent growth or over 201,000 units more in sales when compared to the same period of 2014.

However, even as increasing volume of media tablets continue to fly off the shelves—for the fourth successive year since 2011, the Vietnamese media tablets market, for the first time, shrank in total market value. Its USD 324.5 million in sales generated last year was 13 percent lower than the previous year.

“Media tablets are still very much in demand, although its growth momentum has slowed down considerably compared to the early years when it was first introduced,” observed Van Tran Khoa, Managing Director for GfK in Vietnam. “The increasingly saturated market has reduced the growth rate significantly from exponential triple-digit range in the past three years to the still healthy double-digit level in 2015.”

GfK point of sales tracking reveals a consistent downward price trend of media tablets over the years—from the much higher USD675 average price during the initial period when tablets were first introduced locally, to the current level of around USD239. In the last one year, price of tablets fell by 25 percent year-on-year from USD 321 in 2014. With the availability of more inexpensive tablets, market share of the low-end tier of USD 200 and below segment surged by 16 percent to 55 percent.

Corresponding with the declining pattern of media tablet prices is the steady rise in number of players in the market. In 2015, there was six times more media tablet brands catering to the local market, as opposed to just 10 in the first year of its launch. The latest GfK report revealed 63 brands and 396 models of media tablets available in the market at the end of last year.

Another notable trend is the continued penetration of the Android market in Vietnam. Last year, more than four in every five (82%) tablets purchased were based on this operating system—up from 73 percent a year before. This translates to local consumers spending over USD 201 million on Android media tablets.

“The local media tablet retail market is anticipated to slow down, but we foresee that opportunities still exist in some segments of the corporate sector,” commented Van “We expect Vietnam’s media tablets market to continue its positive performance in the near future, although at a diminishing growth rate of less than double-digit,” he concluded.